- Schools are exposed to weak passwords in their organization
- Hackers are increasingly targeting educational institutions
- ‘123456’ and ‘Password’ are both in the top 5 of most of them used passwords in education
Universities, schools and gyms are vulnerable by an endemic of weak passwords in the educational industry, new research from NordVPN shows.
The company’s analysis reveals that educational institutions fall short by choosing easy to remember (but easy to guess) passwords – to outline the 20 most recycled passwords in the education sector and find, with 1,233,447 observed uses are ‘123456’, followed by ‘123456789’ and ‘21345678’, with slightly over a million,
Ironically within the five most commonly used passwords is also ‘password’ and ‘secret’. It goes without saying that this is challengers to the least safe passwords and that they can leave your organization vulnerable, no matter which sector you operate in.
Non-SO-secret passwords
“Educational institutions handle large quantities of personal information – from students’ items to internal communication – but many are still dependent on passwords that will fail, even the most basic cybersecurity test. Using standard or recycled credentials leave the entire system vulnerable to attack,”
We have seen several high profiled attacks on schools and universities, including the notorious schools of power that postponed the information from students and teachers, including names, birth dates and contact information – with almost 62 million students believed to be affected.
Criminals like to target schools and universities to steal children’s personal information. With the data they steal, hackers can take out loans or credit cards using personal information in identity theft attacks and false applications – especially because children do not have a credit history.
If you need help choosing a secure password – there are a few easy things you can do to immediately make your more secure (or look at our full guide here!).
Make sure your passwords are over 12 characters, with a mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters as well as some special characters.
A good example of a secure password would be a phrase from your favorite -TV show, with some letters changed out for numbers, like; ‘Streets; AHEAD6S & AM! ‘. Alternatively, you can check some of the best password generators to help with the task.
